Duane:
The radiator will mount in front of the engine. I am also planning on mounting the fuel cell behind the seat. This is departing from the norm on the S&W dragsters. They use front mounted fuel systems.

John :-$

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Bubstr

Post subject:

Posted: Sat Nov 24, 2007 1:30 pm

Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:54 pmPosts: 1619Location: Western Illinois

Your doing a good job, John. I can see your doing something every day. That's what it takes to get them done. When I had projects, I had to go out there for at least a half hour a night. If I didn't it was too easy not do something for a week and make some kind of lame excuse to myself for why.

I am also planning on mounting the fuel cell behind the seat. This is departing from the norm on the S&W dragsters. They use front mounted fuel systems.John :-$

Why would you do this? I could see this with a door car but it would seem to me you can use the g-forces in your favor by putting the cell up front and there's plenty of space on a dragster.

Bubstr wrote:

Your doing a good job, John. I can see your doing something every day. That's what it takes to get them done. When I had projects, I had to go out there for at least a half hour a night. If I didn't it was too easy not do something for a week and make some kind of lame excuse to myself for why.

I agree 100%. When I was building my car I got a lot accomplished the 1st 6 months, then it seemed to take forever to make any real progress. Looks like you're doing great.

Why would you do this? I could see this with a door car but it would seem to me you can use the g-forces in your favor by putting the cell up front and there's plenty of space on a dragster.

Chuck:
I agree with you on that point.

However, after fueling both types between rounds. I prefer the tank behind the seat with an extended fuel filler neck on the left side of the car. This is the way RaceTech does with their cars. I am usually alone and this makes it easier on me.

On my friend's RaceTech he uses a belt-driven pump with no problem.

In addition, I do not want to spend $75 for a fuel filler door to go into the body.

Thanks for the complements guys. My shop is my safe haven.

John =; :-$

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PSweeney

Post subject:

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 7:28 am

Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 11:08 amPosts: 400

I agree with you there John, I got friends with FED's and altereds where they have to remove the front sheet metal or nose etc just to fuel up.

Make the whole deal single operation friendly from the off, little details like seat belt hooks, helmet hooks, sufficient cooling to drive back to the pits etc, master cut off within easy belted reach, self starting, charging system, glove box etc . It's hard to get crew to help all the time, so having the option of running it single handed is best built in now at this stage, rather than later on.

Check out http://www.kenlowe.com.au/ he builds some nice cars and he's got a few nice little bits he does on his cars, like the adjustable pedal set ups, hinged radiators etc Lots of photos on his site as well, good to actually see his work and developments as opposed to a turnkey price.

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Blue Steele

Post subject:

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 2:43 pm

Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:34 amPosts: 174Location: North Carolina

Here are the pics of the initial mock-up of the front end. The spindles arrived yesterday. I was not happy with the fit of the bottom tubes so I cut each tube in half, slid a piece of 1" tubing inside and refit them. I will use these as templates to cut the new tubes. There is 23* of caster built into the front end.

John =; :-$

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Bubstr

Post subject:

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 3:12 pm

Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:54 pmPosts: 1619Location: Western Illinois

23 degrees is a bunch. That ought to keep you from steering out of the groove while you watching the pit tootsies going down track. What's the king pin inclination? 9 - 10 degrees with 1 degree positive camber?

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Blue Steele

Post subject:

Posted: Thu Nov 29, 2007 4:11 pm

Joined: Tue Oct 23, 2007 7:34 amPosts: 174Location: North Carolina

Bubstr wrote:

23 degrees is a bunch. That ought to keep you from steering out of the groove while you watching the pit tootsies going down track. What's the king pin inclination? 9 - 10 degrees with 1 degree positive camber?

Dennis:
The King Pin inclination is 7.5*. There is no camber in the front end. It is straight up.

John :-$

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Beretta

Post subject:

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 6:53 am

Joined: Wed Apr 19, 2006 8:20 pmPosts: 5852Location: N.J.

[quote="Bubstr"]23 degrees is a bunch. That ought to keep you from steering out of the groove while you watching the pit tootsies going down track. What's the king pin inclination? 9 - 10 degrees with 1 degree positive camber?[/quot

Dennis, why would you want pos camber on a drag vehicle??

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Bubstr

Post subject:

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 10:04 am

Joined: Tue Apr 18, 2006 9:54 pmPosts: 1619Location: Western Illinois

The positive camber is not a biggie one way or the other. According to My Goodyear man the tire of any kind always gets better traction at 1 degree positive camber even rear tires on a circle track, or both on a road course. That is side bite. That 1 degree is what you always shoot for after roll centers camber gains or what ever effects camber. that is the angle with the best adhesion (slip angle). When your rolling straight it has very little effect, but when you turn it helps a lot because of the outside wheels foot print. the outside wheel carries the most weight at that time and is capable of more traction.

I had a good friend that first worked for Baer alignment MFR. then for Goodyear at all the Indy car races, going back to the 60s. they mounted tires, made suspension alignments and changes for the car owners. and a darn good carpenter. He was a wealth of knowledge about pyrometer readings, tire cycles, slip angles and such. It's good to have smart friends.

Dennis, I think you mean negative camber. Positive would lean the wheel out at the top, negative leans it in. Negative camber would improve high speed cornering. I would agree it doesn't mean a thing on a drag car with a skinny tire on it. The caster and SAI (king pin angle) would make it stable at speed.